“I grew up just out of Lismore around Eltham. I have really good memories of growing up on a big property. Always playing in the bush, being in Dad’s shed building mail boxes. So good!
It was an amazing childhood.
I went to Albert Park Primary and Richmond River High School. The high school itself needed some work but the teachers were absolutely amazing. Throughout school I worked weekends in a news-agency and then full time doing the Barista thing in a cafe for just under a year when I left school.
I saved all my money and moved to Brisbane with a friend. I moved on the weekend and started at Gloria Jeans in the CBD on the Monday. I stayed in Brisbane for several years working in hospitality and then I enrolled in University. I did one year of Psychology and transferred into the double degree, A Bachelor of Psychological Science and Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Throughout Uni I worked the whole time, full time hours. It was crazy.
I was working 2 jobs by now to save to go to South America. I spent 4 months travelling and there I met my partner Andres. I met an Australian girl in Bolivia and we became good friends. We travelled through Peru and met a German girl who joined our travels to Ecuador. She introduced us to her friend Andres who would take us around the city. Andres and I only spent one day together. We were supposed to meet the following day but I was busy. He was messaging me on Facebook and we stayed in contact. We realised that we were talking back and forth everyday, then all day everyday and then Skype.
We were supposed to meet in Hong Kong and his work prevented him coming. Long story short, I thought I would like to spend a month in Japan then a month in China then back to Australia to save but I ended up staying in China for two and a half years with Andres where I worked as a Kindergarten teacher and I also worked in editing. Andres has stable work as a translator with the company he works for in China. China is mind-blowing. It’s nothing like you would imagine. If you think you have an idea of what China is like, it’s not. In China nobody speaks English. They all study English but they don’t learn to speak it. The whole time I was in China I was actually studying Spanish.I found it difficult at first as everything is banned in China, no FB, no Google, no Gmail, no Viber. Yahoo works sometimes. They don’t have access to the rest of the world.
I am back here in Lismore for one week visiting my family then I’m off to Ecuador. Andres and I will then go down through Peru into Puno. From there to the salt flats in Bolivia, on to Argentina then we fly to Panama, travel up to Costa Rica where we may work for a while as Andres old boss owns a bar there. Next Honduras, Mexico, Florida and then a cruise ship which is super cheap to Europe. That will be luxury after backpacking on $20 a day for a year. We will then head into Iceland, Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Greece, everywhere.
I’m 29 and I’ve never wanted children. Andres feels the same. I have this philosophy where I think being selfish is ok as long as you are sincere and honest about it. I want to travel the world, do the Inca Trail, this and that and everything. I want to see and do everything. I believe that if you have children they should be your biggest priority and you should put everything into them. I’m not willing to do that. I don’t want to be tied down somewhere ever. Everyone say’s I may change my mind but I won’t. Andres and I have discussed going to a country for 2 or 3 years then another for the same and maybe opening a little cafe come hostel somewhere like The Carribeaan. I love that part of the world but I still haven’t seen half the world.”